Letters To The Editor

August 28, 1993

CAREGIVERS UNDERPAID

Would you take a job that paid less than minimum wage, had no benefits and didn't offer a lunch break? Child care workers are leaving the field in record numbers. Nearly half of the nation's million regulated day care providers are expected to leave their jobs this year. Caregivers perform some of the nation's most valuable work, but earn less than workers in nearly any other field.

The crux of the problem is basic economics: The true cost of providing quality care is far more than most families can afford. Child care workers have essentially subsidized the difference by accepting low salaries.

The situation has been especially hard to change because of Americans' ambivalent attitudes about child care. We devalue the work. Research shows that the more teachers a child loses, the more aggressive he may become. Children's language and social development could be slowed. Mom and Dad worry over their children and find it hard to concentrate at work. They most likely miss work as they search for new care for their children.

The Clinton administration has put its weight behind the Head Start program, the only federal child care program that mandates that at least 12.5 percent of any new funding be set aside to improve the training and salaries of the caregivers. While Head Start serves only low-income children, advocates believe it sets a powerful and positive principle.

We have to get away from the idea that parents can afford what high-quality child care costs. Good care costs money and that money can be found only through the collective efforts of government, business and parents. We need a new vision. We cannot keep saying that families cannot afford child care. Many families couldn't afford school, either, if they had to pay for it themselves. We have to establish a right to child care in this country and find ways to finance it.

At least two bills, one sponsored by Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., and another by Sen. Dennis DeConcini, D-Ariz., have been introduced to Congress to offer employers grants or tax credits for helping with child care costs. Politicians act only when they feel pressure from voters. Please write your senators and representatives to tell them you want to see legislation that improves the training and pay of child care workers.

Patsy Campbell

Hampton

CRIME ISSUE AVOIDED

Rather than address the social, economic and political favors that lead to the handgun problem in our schools and the ever-increasing violence in our communities, Mary Sue Terry in her campaign for governor relentlessly presents her solution, which is, "Pass the Brady bill" - the seven-day waiting period for the purchase of a handgun.

Does she know that only criminal parents, relatives or friends give or sell or let be available handguns to these children; that criminals do not obey the existing laws; and that criminals would not be affected by a waiting period no matter how long? I will try to enlighten her. They steal their guns or buy from each other for less than 20 percent of the gun store prices. They are stupid to be criminals but not many are so stupid as to go to a dealer and face an instant computer criminal record check, have their ownership recorded in police records and then pay five times as much for the gun.

Every thinking person acknowledges that this waiting period idea would not reduce crime one iota. Neither would it significantly affect the law-abiding gun customer; so what is the big deal? Here is what. Championing this totally ineffective waiting period idea allows the politicians to go through yet another election avoiding reality while claiming to be champing at the bit to do something about crime.

I hope that the Daily Press will change its position and its Monday morning editorials and thereby help force the politicians to identify, confront and attack the real causes and cures of violence in our society.

Edwin H. Powell

Williamsburg

GHOULISH COVERAGE

Have you no shame? Forget newsworthy. What you have done is inhumane and totally wrong. For you to inflict further horror upon Michael Jordan and his family while they faced this horrendous tragedy is foul.

I'm not writing because Michael is a famous person. What you have done is inexcusable for any family.

You have printed a number of unfavorable things about Jordan, but these allegations and speculations at this time constitute kicking a man when he's down.

Can you imagine the additional suffering you inflicted upon the family? You would have shown some class, good taste and proper judgment if you had waited for the facts. If the facts proved you right, then print your news and discredit Michael Jordan. Your own writer, Skip Miller, called your actions ghoulish. I agree.

Allean Moore

Hampton

STAY IN SCHOOL

According to a recent U.S. News & World Report, girl athletes have advantages over their non-athletic counterparts. They are three times more likely to graduate from high school, 80 percent less likely to have unwanted pregnancies and 92 percent less likely to use drugs.

I heard that 90 percent of men in prison are high school dropouts. Parents ought to pass this information to their teen-agers and discuss these facts so there will be understanding.

F.K. Jordan

Hampton

AMUSED BY LETTERS

I read your letters to the editor every day for they are an excellent source of amusement. Forget the comics; this is superior.

We have so many amateur "know-it-all" politicians and biased "Christian hypocrites" in this area to laugh at.

Please don't stop printing their letters. Those of us who enjoy a good laugh would sorely miss them.